[Sca-cooks] beating eggs

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Stefan li Rous wrote:


 > I assume that the amount of time to whip/beat eggs is proportional to
the number of eggs more or less. I think I was whipping eggs to
 > make "snow" to use with some wafers. It certainly seemed like I
 > had whipped them enough, but maybe I didn't. I think the redaction
 > said whip until stiff. Any one have some estimates for X amount of
 > eggs how long it should take to get to various stages?
 >
 > I think the main problem when I did the snow was probably that I
 > got the whites contaminated with some egg yolks, but this other
 > knowledge might be useful for a number of things.


The trouble is that there are too many variables to estimate the time
effectively. Humidity, temperature, pH and altitude are all factors, and
then there's the question of whether you've got some yolks in there
while separating the eggs.

To be honest, though, my own experience has been that I have never
encountered an egg-white-beating task that took more than ten minutes or
so (probably more like five), tops, unless there was some kind of
unforeseen problem. If it takes longer than that and you have genuinely
been beating for that amount of time, it's probably time to start
thinking about where things went wrong and what to do about it.

Note that this applies only to whites, and that yolks or whole eggs
_will_ beat to stiff peaks, but take significantly longer.


 > How much differance does it make to use a whisk instead of a spoon?
 > Or one of the handcrank egg-beaters?

A spoon works in a different way; it's kind of like the difference
between the aerodynamics of an airplane versus a helicopter. It
introduces air into the mix, but also is harder to move through the
liquid. In general a balloon/wire whip has the least resistance of any
standard tool, and is less likely to splash eggs all over you as you
work. I would say the spoon requires a little more precision, a bit more
  exact repetition of motion, to use effectively.

Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98